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Cross-town Rivals To Meet In NCHSAA 4-A Tennis

May 19, 2006

CHAPEL HILL— Two cross-town rivals will meet on Saturday, but it will be in the semifinals of the North Carolina High School Athletic Association state 4-A tennis championships at the Cone-Kenfield Tennis Center at the University of North Carolina.

Top-seeded Mike Greenberg of East Chapel Hill and third-seeded Andrew Malizia of Chapel Hill each won two matches on Friday to advance to the Saturday semifinals. Greenberg was the 3-A runner-up in 2004 and won the 3-A championship in ‘05, but East Chapel Hill moved to 4-A in the new alignment this year.

Second-seeded Michael Pereira of Fayetteville Jack Britt will play Charlotte Providence’s Chris Sheehan in the other singles semifinal. One string has already been broken, though, because a Raleigh school has had a singles finalist in each of the last eight 4-A state championships but no Wake County players made it to the semifinals this time.

Last year’s doubles runners-up, Joe May and Greg Simon of Greenville Rose, are the third-seeded team and will face the top-seeded duo from Chapel Hill, Chase Helpingstine and Austin Webb, in one semifinal. The second seeds, Eric Noble and Ryan Noble of Fayetteville Terry Sanford, will play Thomas Rickenbaker and Brendan O’Connor of Charlotte Providence in the other semifinal. Rickenbacker and O’Connor upset the fourth-seeded team of Lucas Puente and Cullen Lee of Wilmington Laney in the first round.

Action will get underway at 9:00 Saturday morning, with the championship matches to be played early Saturday afternoon.

Wendy's and the Carolinas Ford Dealers are the presenting sponsors for the NCHSAA sports program.

NORTH CAROLINA HIGH SCHOOL ATHLETIC ASSOCIATION

2006 STATE 4-A MEN'S TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIPS

Cone-Kenfield Tennis Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill